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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   4978 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 13, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm still on Flowers for Algernon. Haven't been able to make much progress.

I just finished I, Claudius and I was...disappointed.

I've often found the use of period-accurate names over modern ones to be obnoxious, but I guess I'm used to it, because the use of modern names here really annoyed me.

I found the whole book to be confusingly boring. It was mostly a recounting of things I already knew, with a few thin fictionalizations thrown in, and no real characters to get me invested.

Any chance you've read Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco novels? Hardboiled detective fiction in the time of Vespasian. They're certainly less serious, but great fun.

I've heard of them! Maybe I'll try that next!

I liked I, Claudius a lot but I didn't know much about the period so maybe that's why. Have you read the Masters of Rome series? Those are flawed, especially the later ones in the series, but their portrayal of Sulla is one of my favorite fictional characters ever.

Can't get enough of them, the Grass Crown is probably a contender for my favorite book.

Honestly the portrayal of historical characters there was just mwah

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